Commercial Director

international recruitment & hr experts across the plastics, packaging, speciality chemicals, life sciences, biopolymer, food additives & ingredients, energy and recycling sectors since 1975.

plastics manufacturer

home based but with regular travel to scotland. Ideal location will be midlands, north west, yorkshire, north east or scotland

job /65168

salary: £75000 basic salary + car

the company:

our client is a leading well-respected and long-standing plastics manufacturer that is seeking a commercial director to develop and implement a business strategy that will enable the company to refine its market focus, improve customer execution through a more partnership-led approach and deliver significant, sustainable sales growth.

overview of role:

reporting directly to the md, this role is being created to lead the front-end growth of the business. The commercial director will own the sales, marketing and customer service functions - running them day-to-day while reshaping the commercial strategy - and act as a genuine strategic partner to the md, jointly accountable for delivering the company's growth plan

key responsibilities:

strategic partnership to the md-

• act as a close, analytically credible sounding board to the md on commercial and wider business strategy, bringing structured thinking and data - not just opinion - to decisions.
• co-own the company's growth strategy with the md, deputising on commercial matters and representing the commercial function at senior leadership and board level.
• agree and own a commercial kpi scorecard with the md, covering sales growth, gross margin, cost-to-serve, distributor concentration, customer retention and service levels.
• translate the strategy into a concrete, resourced commercial plan with clear ownership, milestones and measures of success.
• provide the md with regular, evidence-based reporting on commercial performance against the strategic plan, including the headline objective of delivering 25% sales growth within the next two years.

customer and sales strategy-

• lead a full mapping exercise of the customer base to identify spend thresholds and segment accounts by value and strategic fit.
• run a rigorous cost-to-serve and margin analysis by account, to build an evidence-based (not purely size-based) case for which accounts to retain, grow, transition or exit.
• reduce the active account base from 150+ to a focused list of under 20 strategically valuable accounts, targeting 80% of sales from the top 10 master distributors.
• identify and re-engage lapsed customers who previously traded above the target spend threshold.
• proactively target and win new strategically valuable distributor and key accounts, including in adjacent sectors and geographies, to replace lower-value volume and drive net growth.
• decide, and build the commercial case for, a distributor-only vs. Hybrid route-to-market model
• review and refine the existing tiered pricing and terms framework, recommend enhancements in line with market drivers and manage its rollout to the distributor base.
• design and implement a tiered pricing and terms framework and manage its rollout to the distributor base.
• quantify revenue-at-risk from any accounts being transitioned or exited and own a mitigation plan per account.
• lead the review of the trade show and exhibition programme, through the marketing team, to identify and convert higher-spend prospects.

commercial sales & marketing leadership-

• own and upgrade the overall commercial and sales strategy, moving the function from reactive order-taking to proactive, targeted account management.
• manage, coach and where necessary restructure the sales team to match the new strategic direction and required calibre.
• own sales forecasting, pipeline and revenue reporting.
• select, implement and manage a crm system as the single source of truth for accounts, pipeline and customer activity, and embed its use across the sales, marketing and customer service teams.
• work closely with production and product pillars to ensure the customer and product portfolios are simplified in a coordinated way.
• directly manage the marketing function, owning the marketing strategy, plan and budget so that brand, digital, campaign and exhibition activity generates qualified demand from target accounts.
• directly manage the customer service / sales administration team, setting service standards and ensuring order processing and customer communication support a partnership approach with key accounts.

person profile:

experience-

• proven track record of…